Throughout the 2013 postseason, the Niagara-Wheatfield hockey team has been the beneficiary of scoring bursts which have turned close games quickly in its favor.The Falcons again scored in bunches in the third period of their state quarterfinal game to defeat Ithaca 5-1 on Saturday at Northtown Center in Amherst and move on to next Saturday’s (March 9) large school semifinal against Saratoga in Utica.Wheatfield netted three goals in a matter of six minutes to extend a 2-1 lead after two periods into an insurmountable advantage.

In the game prior, the Falcons ran away from Clarence in the Western New York Federation final with a three-goal burst in a few minute second period span during a 7-2 win and in the semifinal, scored four unanswered after Lancaster had opened an early 1-0 lead.“That seems to be how we do it,” said Wheatfield head coach Rick Wrazin, whose team has won consecutive WNY Federation titles, but took another step this season by earning a state semifinal berth. “As a coach, it can make you nervous and you pull your hair out but when the waves come in your favor, it’s comforting.”Michael Parisi, one of seven seniors on a much younger team than the one that won a Federation title last season, scored twice and assisted on another goal for a team with balanced offense throughout the playoffs.“We knew we were going to face a hard team, so we knew we were going to have to come out and play our game and that’s what we did and we took the game over,” Parisi said. “I love playing with all of these guys. My linemates, like Anthony Vekich, helped me so much with these goals.”Vekich, a junior captain, added one himself, along with two assists, while teammates Domenic Senese and Adriano Medici also notched goals and Jeff Janese and Frank Vecchio notched assists. Senese, a sophomore, scored three times and had five points in Wheatfield’s Federation title game win.“Maybe because they’re younger they don’t get nervous,” Wrazin said. “We’re really proud of what they’ve done all year. They get along great as a group. They come to practice and give everything and I think they’re in good game shape because of it. They’re young and hungry so they just keep coming at you and we have scoring throughout the lineup. We counted on Dom on Monday and today Parisi broke out with two.”The Falcons found themselves down 1-0 early as Ithaca came out skating hard and got a power play goal from Michael Abdulky, assisted by Jacob Grippin. But Wheatfield struck back with late period goals in both the first and second.Parisi scored on the power play to even the score with 1:54 left in the first and then Senese tallied unassisted on a short-handed odd-man rush with just 15 ticks on the clock in the second. In that period, Wheatfield amped up the pressure and started to take over the game, but Ithaca junior goalie Brandon Kasel was equal to the task throughout most of the second, including stopping Vecchio on a breakaway.In the third, Wheatfield closed the deal with Medici starting the three-goal spurt just over a minute into the third, then Parisi and Vekich finishing off the scoring.

The Falcons outshot Ithaca 39-14 in the game.The Little Red let emotions get the best of them the rest of the way as two players were kicked out of the game and at one point, three teammates were in the penalty box at once, including the goalie.“I think the kids were a little tight and they were kind of watching rather than getting pressure at the start,” Wrazin said of his team. “Puck possession has been our strength all season long. I’m not sure if we didn’t want to make mistakes but we weren’t in our game. We knew they were going to come to play but I think they gave our kids more than they bargained for early on, but then we tightened our forecheck.”With so many underclassmen on this team stepping up, it’s made seniors like Parisi proud and given the Falcons belief that maybe they can contend for a state title. After all, no team has come within three goals of Wheatfield yet in four playoff games.“It means everything to us every one of the younger guys comes to practice every day working as hard as they can and doing everything they can,” Parisi said. “We’re going to work hard this week and we’re going to try to win it all.”